Posted 9:16 am Friday, March 08, 2013
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Mid-Century revival puts architect back on a pedestal
By Kathryn Garvin
kgarvin@yahoo.com
Onward and upward, postwar Americans moved to the suburbs and embraced mobility on the ground and in the air. Dubbed “the American Century,” the U.S. emerged in the '50s as a “superpower” with a populace that was looking for ways to express their newfound prosperity and no-limits mindset.
kgarvin@yahoo.com
Onward and upward, postwar Americans moved to the suburbs and embraced mobility on the ground and in the air. Dubbed “the American Century,” the U.S. emerged in the '50s as a “superpower” with a populace that was looking for ways to express their newfound prosperity and no-limits mindset.
Enter Eero Saarinen, a young architect seeking to broaden the modern architectural vocabulary beyond, what he called, “the measly ABCs.” He saw his clients as co-creators, but the resultant variety of forms were fodder for his detractors. Unable to pigeonhole his structures, he was likened to a public relations man — a propagandist for American capitalism.
Saarinen made an early break from the form-follows-function doctrine of the Modernists. He veered away from the trend toward steel beams and glass and gave us the skyscraping Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
Saarinen's “Tulip” table and chairs, created for Knoll between 1955 and 1957, are as gravity-defying as the arch. The pedestal series was designed to “clean up the slum of legs,” and “allow for flexible grouping.”
Saarinen's effort to tap into the technical innovations of American industrial design gave rise to his “one piece, one material furniture philosophy.”
Inventive in terms of technology and materials, Saarinen's “Tulip” series was built with polyester resin, a material developed for constructing ship hulls.
Saarinen's seamless series is synonymous with the postwar era and is still in production, popping up in high-end showrooms, movies and on television.
The graceful, organic “Tulip” table can be paired with any chair but looks great with the “Tulip” chair. A white table as a contrasting piece in a period room or a white piece in an all-white room, the pedestal series satisfies the most style-conscious customers today.
The curves and gloss of the “Tulip” will look modern and glamorous forever, jogging our memories of those “Happy Days.”
(It's so optimistic!)
Saarinen's effort to tap into the technical innovations of American industrial design gave rise to his “one piece, one material furniture philosophy.”
Inventive in terms of technology and materials, Saarinen's “Tulip” series was built with polyester resin, a material developed for constructing ship hulls.
Saarinen's seamless series is synonymous with the postwar era and is still in production, popping up in high-end showrooms, movies and on television.
The graceful, organic “Tulip” table can be paired with any chair but looks great with the “Tulip” chair. A white table as a contrasting piece in a period room or a white piece in an all-white room, the pedestal series satisfies the most style-conscious customers today.
The curves and gloss of the “Tulip” will look modern and glamorous forever, jogging our memories of those “Happy Days.”
(It's so optimistic!)
